Thursday, 1 March 2018

Aspiration vs Capability

This is something that I have discussed with so many people who are looking to hire people especially young people.

Social media and general exposure to the different parts of the world and the possibilities in those parts has led to huge increase in the ambition or aspirations of the youth. Our sense of possibility is pushed because we see so many people who are our age or around it doing so many things. They might be earning more money, working on big projects or travelling to exotic locations. It has led to all of us, on an average, become more materialistic.

I personally don't think there is anything wrong in being materialistic. For me, it represents ambition and aspiration. The problem arises when ambition becomes unrealistic. How do you know what is unrealistic and what is not? Well, if your current capability to achieve the dream is extremely low, it makes the ambition unrealistic.

I cannot aim to work for Elon Musk right now or earn one crore a month as salary because my current capability is not even close to deserving that kind of reward. Now if I still aim for all that with my current capability, it is not ambition but a pipe dream.

Increase in aspiration should always be followed by increase in capability otherwise it will only lead to dissatisfaction. Increase in capability without an increase in aspiration will lead to you not achieving your full potential.